New phishing scam?

Pat Dolan

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2002
Location
Martensville, SK
TDI
2003 A4 Variant, 2015 Q7
Generally speaking, I never sell our cars or trucks, we drive them until they are all used up. BUT: my wife inherited my Mother's Venza, and it is a vehicle for which we really have no use. So, I put it up on Kijiji and Auto Trader.

I was pleased to get some genuinely interested replies right away, but the next morning, I got a really strange call from a local number. The obviously NAC (Newly Arrived Canadian) started by introducing himself as "Alex", and I found that to be an odd way to open an inquiry about a used car. He asked a lot of questions (all of which were already answered in the add) sounding as if he was going down a list and had some reference material for what items would be in each option or feature. OK, maybe that's how he does his research, but I am hearing other calls going on in the background - and it starts to look like a call center. He ends the call with some comment about really wanting the V6. I tell my wife I think I had a phishing call, but can't figure out that using only the info in the add (includes VIN) what the scam is.

I get two more calls that day from different people with same MO. Cut them short. Hmmmmm. Caller ID on both wrong.

Well, this morning, "Alex" (yeah, right) calls back at 05:50 local so I know the caller is using a spoofed number. This time he is sobbing that there is some kind of disaster in his life and he needs to come over to buy our car. I won't put our actual address on Kijiji (used a nearby fake for this very reason) so I tell "Alex" that I will come and pick him up, just give me your address. His English is so bad, I can't make out much of what he is trying to say, so he puts someone else on - who of course can not tell me what city he is in. I guess they figured out that the gig is up, so they hung up.

I tried to keep them around long enough to figure out the scam, but no soap. Anyone have any idea what this one is and how it plays out?
 

mohawk69

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 27, 2005
Location
Richmond Hill, GA (Savannah)
TDI
1996 B4, 1996 B4V, 2000 Beetle TDI
Probably, ultimately, he would buy your car for an agreed amount. Perhaps $10k. He'll tell you to cash the cashiers check. He will want you to cash the $12k check and send him the difference so he can pay the shippers that will come and pick up the car and ship it to him. Of course, a week or two later the bank will contact you regarding the fraudulent check. The bank will want the money back and while you still have the car, you're out the $2k. It's a problem that the gov't could easily fix but they seem unwilling.
 

Powder Hound

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 25, 1999
Location
Under a Bridge, Crestview, FL, USA
TDI
'00 Golf 4dr White 5sp, '02 Jettachero 5sp, Wife's '03 NB Platinum Gray auto(!)
Could be any kind of scam. Similar to above, but it is better not to find out. You are correct in thinking it is a phishing scam and they're trying to get you to give up any kind of personal information they can use to steal from you.

Just ignore the calls and move on.

Cheers,

PH
 

KLXD

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 22, 2009
Location
Lompoc, CA
TDI
'98, '2 Jettas
Probably, ultimately, he would buy your car for an agreed amount. Perhaps $10k. He'll tell you to cash the cashiers check. He will want you to cash the $12k check and send him the difference so he can pay the shippers that will come and pick up the car and ship it to him. Of course, a week or two later the bank will contact you regarding the fraudulent check. The bank will want the money back and while you still have the car, you're out the $2k. It's a problem that the gov't could easily fix but they seem unwilling.
Is anyone that stupid?

Why does he need to send the shipping money to the seller only to have it sent back to him?
 

Pat Dolan

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2002
Location
Martensville, SK
TDI
2003 A4 Variant, 2015 Q7
got another call today. they seem to have a pattern. Introduce themselves, try to sound like a buyer, can hear the call center noise in background, claim they are nearby, etc. Accents seem to be Filipino. Got the caller to claim they were a "vehicle location business". Since I am pretty sure they are offshore, just hung up as there would be no way the RCMP will investigate out of country.
 

Jetta_Pilot

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Location
West Hill, Ont.
TDI
2015 Passat Highline TDI Candy White (SEL Premium) long gone 2002 Jetta TDI
One of the oldest scams around. Obviously some people are stupid enough to fall for it else why would this be still around.
 

Pat Dolan

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2002
Location
Martensville, SK
TDI
2003 A4 Variant, 2015 Q7
Pulled the adds on Friday (car sold), but the bogus calls just keep on coming!

In the end, I got ONE legitimate call from Autotrader add, and dozen or so from Kijiji. Unfortunately half the Kijiji calls were not buyers (you only need one, but speaking with all kinds of scammers is just such a waste of time).
 
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